Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Elfen Lied, the best anime out there!

Summary: Harry has a secret: he's a diclonius. After abused by the Dursely's for four years, Harry is sent to the institution until he meets Lucy and breaks out. They get their Hogwarts letters and attend school, and are sucked into a whirlwind of murders, death, and crazy teachers.

Quote: When you're miserable, you need something that's even more miserable than yourself. Lucy, EL episode 8

A quick note: Since the anime (and I don't think the manga either) gives Kouta's last name, I've improvised and said it's Conlon, which is the last name of his English VA.


Chapter 11- Resemblance (aka Enter Kouta!")

It was nearing winter vacation and the weather had turned progressively worse as the days continued. An icy wind blew through tiny cracks in the stone walls, forming ice melting from the heat of the lit torches, water running down to pool on the floor. It wasn't uncommon to see the students bundled up in scarves, hats, and extra cloaks as they scurried through the cold to their classrooms. The potions laboratory was perhaps the warmest place in the castle (bar the common rooms), kept at a regular cool temperature to preserve the delicate plants and animal parts, which was a shame because no one wanted to stay around with Snape more than they had too. The Aurors had left the school a few weeks before, assuring the students that they had a good lead on their murder cases. Dumbledore was seen around the castle with a knit cozy on his beard, much to the amusement of several students.

Harry and Lucy had made much progress on their readings, learning more about their race and their vectors. Even though parts of the book were destroyed and illegible because of age, they were able to fill in the missing parts. Harry's Council turned out to be a council of non-humans who had led a war against the humans many centuries back. The humans had wiped them out and took control of the magical community, forcing the non-humans into servile positions and taking away most of their rights. The head of the council had been Diclonius, who had been hunted down for sport afterwards, becoming the ultimate trophy for any witch or wizard. By the time they had finished reading the books together, winter vacation was just beginning.

It was during the first night of vacation that Harry and Lucy planned to sneak back into the Forbidden Forest to speak to the Firenze. They huddled around the fireplace in the common room planning how to sneak past Filch, who had been seen sulking around the main secret passage from the dungeons to outside lately. Three Slytherin's had been caught leaving at midnight for a snowball fight. Snape had been angry when he was woken by Filch and had assigned three weeks detention to the perpetrators.

Snow had begun falling again, thick and fast, and covered up their tracks as they marched across the grounds. The moon was full and Harry felt compelled to stop in the safety of a clearing to watched the sky. The falling snow muffled the sounds around them and shone blue in the moonlight. The sight was ethereal, sparkling icicles hanging from the trees threw moonbows on the carpeted ground. Lucy sighed at the sight, discretely touching his hand with her fingers as she gazed past a dew frozen spiderweb. Beyond it were two fairies, both dressed in thick, silvery furs that Harry recognized out of his book as unicorn hair. The fairies were spinning the icicles out of water and hanging them from the trees. "It's beautiful, isn't it."

Harry and Lucy whirled around, hearts in their throats, to see a boy standing off to the side, watching the fairies as well. The stranger pulled his hood back from his face, tugging his scarf down to do it. Lucy let out a noise of recognition and the boy looked at her, eyes wide, and cocked his head. "You, look familiar. Have we met?"

Lucy exhaled noisily through her nose, turning her face away. "Yes… a long time ago." The boy smiled suddenly, flashing white teeth. He laughed slightly and shook his head clear of snow.

"I'm Kouta, Kouta Conlon, second year Slytherin."

"I'm Harry Potter, first year, and this is Lucy, also in first year."

"I thought you looked familiar." Kouta reached into his shoulder bag and drew out three cups and a small flask. "It holds more than it looks like," he said, noticing Harry's curious stare. "And it's just cider. I thought we could celebrate Yule with a cup or two. I had hoped I would meet you here. The centaurs told me it would be a good day for me, so I patiently waited and then I was able to follow you here! What luck."

"You were waiting for us? Why?"

"I had to wait until you had read about your heritage. About the Council."

"You know about the Council?"

Kouta smiled gently. "Yes, I do. Should the council call together a meeting, I will be attending as an apprentice heir. I want to make a difference; I want to help people, to stop them from hurting and end the suffering humans have put them through." His hands clenched into fists, a furrow forming in his brow. "I know what it's like to lose everything and have to start anew." Lucy trembled next to him, a faint expression of guilt flitting across her face. Harry noticed it and tucked it away till later for examination.

"Who did you lose?" he finally asked.

"My parents, and sister. My mom fell in love with my father and moved from Japan to be with him. She died after giving birth to Kanae. When we were children, my dad and sister died from a sickness and left me alone. Sanguini found me and gave me a home." Lucy looked at him, judging his expression. Kouta took a sip of his cider and smiled softly. "Go on, try some." Harry raised his cup to his mouth and breathed in the warm, spiced scent. He took a sip and decided he liked the taste, and drank some more. They watched the fairies together in silence for awhile. "It's about time to meet the centaurs. They've invited us to their Yule celebration. You should be honored; very few are allowed into their village." Harry and Lucy nodded, and they began the long trek through the shimmering trees to the village.

The centaur village was located in a hilly area where the river had eroded caves out of the rock and earth. The houses were inside the cliffs, entrances hidden by bracken artfully arranged to look like it was naturally made. Kouta led them inside the largest hut that stood out in the open. "These are just gathering huts; no one actually lives here. The only time they're used is during celebrations and incase a human happens to wander here by accident." Inside, the air was warm and Harry gratefully shed the layers of clothes he had on. A shallow pit had been dug in the middle of the room, in which an ash log stood. Pieces of charred wood were piled around and on top of it. Towards the back stood an enormous, thick, oak tree, mistletoe and holly and ivy strung around the trunk like Harry's aunt used to decorate the Christmas Tree. Harry walked towards it to look at it more closely and realized the tree was actually in the middle of the room, rather than the back. Kouta motioned them over to a large stone shelf, on which was loaded meats, berries, and various breads. A cauldron stood at the end, simmering over a low fire. From the smell, Harry knew it to be cider.

Centaurs were beginning to fill up the room around them, pleasantly greeting the trio as they passed. Lucy spotted Firenze and they made a line for him, Harry pleased at seeing the centaur's happiness that he was there. "I'm so glad you could come," he said in his deep voice. "The celebration is just about to begin. See Bane there? He is bringing a piece of ember from the last Yule burning to set this ones on fire. Everyone contributes part of their own log, their home, to burn with the Yule log." Bane trotted over to the log, holding the glowing coal about his head before dashing it onto the fire. For a second nothing happened, then slowly some small pieces of ash glowed red, and a tiny flame shot up upwards, and soon the entire log was engulfed in flame. A great cheer rose up from all the centaurs, a great energy flowed through the crowd, and Harry felt his own emotions rising up as well. He stood a second to marvel at the feeling of elation, usually only felt when he was torturing or killing someone.

The centaurs broke off, some getting some food to eat, others beginning to dance rounds. Firenze walked with them, introducing them to some centaurs. "You know you're destiny now?" he asked them.

"Yes, we do." They replied. They spent most of the rest of the night talking with Firenze about the Council and other things before slipping back into Hogwarts and into their beds to sleep.

There was not much to do for the rest of the vacation and the pair was bored out of their minds. They had spent time with Kouta and learned a lot about him. Mostly, they spent time exploring the castle and memorizing the labyrinth passages that resided in the dungeons. Christmas came and went, Harry receiving a mysterious cloak from a stranger, the cider recipe from Kouta, and a new hat from Lucy, since she kept taking his. Harry gave Lucy an interesting rock that he had found many years ago and kept in his music box. They both loved to look through it, watching the colors of the world change around them. Kouta got excited when he saw it, saying that it was a rare and expensive magical stone. He had winked and said they'd have to do their own research to find out what it did.


It was during the night that Harry had slipped from the deserted common room, leaving Lucy dozing by the fireplace and snuck into the library. The torch flames had been doused, leaving on the magical residue to cast a faint glow on the area. It reminded Harry of the cold hallways on the island, and he unconsciously quickened his steps. He toyed with the idea of searching for more about the council, but decided that the search for the stone would be more fun. Of course, he had no idea where to look, so he walked over to the magical artifacts and pulled a book randomly off the shelf and skimmed the chapter index, putting the books back that had nothing to do with the subject he was researching. He read until his eyes burned from the lack of sleep before calling it a night and checking his watch. It was nearing three am, and he stumbled towards the exit, jarring a table with his hip, and causing a rather large book to fall to the ground with a very loud, very echoing boom. The loud noise sent a rush of adrenaline through his veins and he cursed silently and jumped, accidently knocking over an unlit (thankfully) lantern onto the floor with a rattling clatter.

The silence afterwards was pressing; Harry's ears strained to hear the lightest sound, and he slowly backed away from the table, keeping an eye on the main, opened door that he had come through. He had almost made it to the side door when the caretaker burst into the room, lantern swinging every which way, and quite out of breath. Harry forced himself to relax and crouched further into the shadows, gently sliding his back against the door and pressing his ear to it silently s he reached for the handle. His hand lay on it, twisting it ever so silently when he heard something on the other side of the door.

Harry closed his eyes, retracting his hand and trying to hear the noise again over the loud beating of his heart. To his horror, the knob started to turn and on reflex he grasped it with his vector, preventing whoever was on the other side to open the door. The knob jiggled again, the sound practically deafening, and Harry cursed his ill luck as Filch cackled and started towards his hiding spot. "I've got you now, I do, and when I find you you'll be in for it!" The knob jiggled again and Harry heard a low chuckle from outside. He had a sudden horrible feeling…

He jerked away from the door, rolling behind a bookcase as the door flew open with an almighty bang! Filch shrieked as the door almost hit him, dropping his lantern on the ground, dousing the flame. A tall figure stood in the doorway, glowing an odd, silvery color with a wand raised high in one hand…

Dumbledore looked somewhat surprised at the sight of his caretaker clutching his heart with a look of terror on his face. Dumbledore picked the lantern up and touched his wand to the wick, a little flame igniting and throwing him into sharp relief. Filch gave an angry sound, snatching the lantern back. "Whatever is the matter Argus?"

"A student out of bed," Filch grumbled. "I heard a noise and came to investigate."

"Ah, I'm afraid I've given you a false alarm." Dumbledore chuckled, smoothing the cozy he wore around his beard. "I just couldn't sleep tonight, so I took a walk. I found myself in the strangest places, a room full of glittering gold chamber pots if you could believe!" Dumbledore beamed at Filch, who looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else. "Why, you must forgive an old man his ramblings, but that does remind me of an amusing anecdote from when I was just a young lad, living at home. I remember it was during the summer of my second year, and I was quite eager to practice some magic. Despite the underage warnings I figured to create a nice potion to cure the most dreadfully painful boils on my-"

Harry didn't wait to hear more as he ducked behind Dumbledore, who was staring out into the distance fondly while Filch stared at him in horrified fascination. As he was rounding the corner of the hallway he thought back to the headmaster, but shook his head in denial. It must have been a trick of the eye. After all, it was highly improbable that the headmaster would just wink at him, especially as he was breaking the rules…


Mirror of Erised next chapter. We're nearing the end, folks.

Here's a time line I made for my story:

Lucy is in the orphanage, Hermione tattles on the dog, Lucy kills Tomou…

Lucy meets Harry, they go to zoo, someone's home, Harry is captured and sent to the island. Lucy escapes and meets Kouta. They become friends until Kouta betrays her. After Lucy kills the family, she gets off at the next train stop and meets Aiko Takada and is captured and sent to the island, and she escapes around the same time Harry does…

Interesting note: I found something interesting on this site:

/elfen-lied/show/34570/trivia.html

It says that Lucy was originally supposed to have light pink hair and emerald green eyes. I looked up a color scan and saw that she actually did. (sometimes my ability to ignore details right in front of my face astounds me... XP)Should I go back and change that in all the chapters? Does it really matter? Should I just continue on saying she has light pink hair and green eyes? Or was it red? Ahhh, I'm confusing myself. It's been a long month...